You'd expect the best natural skin care cream to begin with pure natural ingredients.
You can't take that for granted, if your experience is anything like mine: "pure and natural" often mean nothing at all in skin care.
But if you do some research and wade through the nonsense (I have, and it wasn't fun), you can find products with a mixture of ingredients proven in clinical testing, as natural as possible.
Then those ingredients must be processed with respect, based on the latest scientific research -- or else they're bound to be behind the times in effectiveness.
I'll mention some ingredients that I've found often in "pure, natural" products that you'll never, ever see in the best skin creams.
Check the label.
They are so common in products claiming to be pure and natural: -- Petroleum products, including the one you find almost everywhere: petroleum jelly, petrolatum, mineral oil, liquid paraffin, paraffin wax -- all different names for only slightly different forms of the same highly undesirable stuff.
These petroleum byproducts are famous for clogging the pores, encouraging blackheads, acne and other disorders.
They strip the natural oils from the skin, causing incredible, worse-than-ever dryness the minute you stop putting them on.
-- Fragrances: Made from thousands of separate ingredients, many toxic or carcinogenic.
The worst danger: in skin care creams, you rub them into the skin, for the worst possible exposure.
If you want a nice fragrance, dab on a little cologne, perfume or a few puffs of body spray -- much safer than rubbing those chemicals in.
-- Parabens: butylparaben, methylparaben, ethyl paraben and propylparaben, all preservatives in skincare products.
May interfere with the body's endocrine system, a possibility of being carcinogens.
-- Toluene: From coal tar petroleum, it's in most synthetic fragrances.
Linked to anemia, lowered blood cell count, potential liver or kidney damage.
May be listed as BHT; clues are the words benzoic and benzyl.
There are lots more dangerous skin care ingredients listed on my website.
And here are some genuine winners found in the best natural skin cream: -- Active Manuka Honey: Honey has enzmes that give it antibacterial and antioxidant qualities, which explains why it was used for skin care for many centuries -- despite its obviously undesirable stickiness! Bees make Active Manuka Honey from certain types of manuka bush of New Zealand, where scientists identified the critical property as Unique Manuka Factor (UMF).
It has much higher levels of antioxidants than any other type of honey; it stimulates the immune system; it heals skin blemishes, nourishes and rejuvenates the skin, making it look younger and softer.
-- Avocado Oil: deeply hydrating, highly compatible with your skin's own oils, and scientifically-proven to stimulate collagen production and increase the proportion of soluble collagen in the skin.
-- Shea butter: from the seed of the shea tree, is a wonderful moisturizer.
Also an emollient which softens the skin, soothes inflamed skin, reduces scars, and brown spots on the skin, smoothes out wrinkles and stretch marks.
Shea butter is absorbed rapidly into the skin -- no greasy feeling.
-- Babassu: from the Babassu palm of Brazil, softens and soothes your skin and creates an invisible barrier to retain moisture and keep out dirt and grime.
It also moisturizes the skin without making it oily.
Clinical studies have shown benefits for eczema, itchy, dry and inflamed skin.
For more effective ingredients and my recommendations for the best natural skin care cream, check my website.